展品欣赏

Book copied on silk, Divination by Astrological and Meteorological Phenomena Early Western Han Dynasty (206 to 168 BC) Length: 58.5cm, width: 31cm Unearthed from Li Xi’s tomb. This manuscript concerns divination through the interpretation of astrological and meteorological phenomena. Around 250 images of various celestial phenomena, including clouds, gases, stars and comets were painted in red and black in this silk book, accompanied by short explanatory texts. The 29 pictures of comets have the highest scientific value. A name was given to each comet, which was depicted with a head and a tail. Except for the very last one, they are all facing downwards, with their tails pointing up, in line with the scientific principle that a comet’s tail always points away from the Sun. This is adequate evidence that China had made remarkable achievements in comet observation more than 2,000 years ago.